Delray To Rebuild Scorched Park

DELRAY BEACH — In the wake of a fire that torched a popular playground along the Intracoastal Waterway, city officials on Friday met with engineers to begin the rebuilding process.

The engineers "have identified pretty much what has to be demolished and removed and what may be salvageable and needs cosmetic work," said Joe Dragon, assistant director of the city's Parks and Recreation Program.

Dragon said more meetings are scheduled for next week to discuss further the details of rebuilding and paying for the project.

"It's a little premature to say what we're going to do," Dragon said. "We do have insurance that covers us ... , but we have to work through our insurance people."

Officials with Robert S. Leathers & Associates, the New York company that designed the playground, have sent down the original diagram, which should make it easier to determine which sections needs replacement, he said.

Investigators think the fire was started by a cigarette discarded in the dry mulch near the southeast corner of the playground structure. The blaze spread rapidly.

An employee at the playground, which is in Veterans Park, discovered the fire when he reported for work Thursday morning.

City officials and residents say they are anxious to see the structure rebuilt.

"I want to see it done as soon as possible," City Manager David Harden said.

More than 3,800 volunteers -- adults and children -- pitched in to build the playground during five days in November 1993 at a cost of $90,000. It would have cost about $267,000 had the city bought the equipment and hired a contractor to install it, city officials said.

On Friday, several visitors at the site said there should be a ban on smoking near the playground, considering the amount of parched mulch on the ground.

Rhonda Boyette, who chaired the fund-raising committee to build the playground area, was among a handful of people who fought unsuccessfully to ban smoking in the park.

"I tried to fight one time to keep cigarettes from in there," she said. "It's a place where kids play. People should not be smoking in there."

Some visitors said the city also should consider stepping up enforcement of loitering ordinances in the park, which is on the northeast corner of East Atlantic Avenue and Northeast First Street.

In recent weeks, police have received complaints that a homeless man was washing his clothes in the restroom. The man, ordered not to return, has been belligerent to officers and the public, police reports show.

Officials do not blame the homeless man for the fire because, they said, he does not smoke. Instead, they think a cigarette may have been tossed from a moving vehicle on Atlantic Avenue.

"This was the most beautiful place in the world," said Carmelo Macherone, who visits the park frequently with his wife Irene.

C. Ron Allen can be reached at crallen@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6611.